Chillers
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Rain is no match for AC solution
Rain has delayed many matches over the years at Wimbledon, the world’s oldest Grand Slam tennis tournament. But now it’s game, set and match as Aermec has provided a bespoke air conditioning solution that comes in to play when the retractable roof over No.1 Court is closed. Dawn Brissenden reports
A
ermec’s relationship with The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) was first established when supplying chillers for the Centre Court’s retractable roof. Now Aermec has supplied chillers and air handling units (AHUs) for AELTC’s No.1 Court project.
Robert Deatker, estate director of AELTC, noted: “Our aim is to provide the finest stage in world tennis at The Championships and the refurbishment of No.1 Court was an important milestone in our master plan for the estate. “Achieving the perfect conditions for playing tennis in such a complex environment is not a straightforward task. Aermec worked hard to engineer a solution that balanced humidity and temperature control to benefit both players and spectators when the No.1 Court roof closed during The Championships.” A total of 26 super quiet chillers and 12 very low noise AHUs were specified. Noise levels were a major consideration. Twenty of the chillers and the AHUs were positioned at a high
that the chillers needed to be installed within the structure, making it a one-of-a-kind project. Building on the success of their Centre Court involvement, Aermec worked on a totally customised approach which addressed an unusual combination of criteria. Graham Turner, Aermec’s technical director, said: “Aermec is continually motivated to design solutions that meet clients’ expectations no matter how
Aermec units in the roof of No.1 Court at The All England Lawn Tennis Club – home to the Grand Slam tennis tournament Wimbledon
Aermec’s manufacturing and purpose-built test facilities near Verona in Italy. Rigorous tests were undertaken and once satisfied Aermec could meet the specifications and criteria, the AELTC was invited to witness testing of the prototype and sign-off the unit for manufacture.
Not only were the performance levels tested, but more importantly extensive acoustic tests were carried out in Aermec’s climatic chamber, which enabled site conditions to be simulated. “Aermec has extensive testing facilities on-site at our factory in Italy. Our labs are AHRI and Eurovent certified and we provided extensive acoustic testing under ‘witness’ conditions enabling the AELTC to see at first hand performance levels and that acoustic criteria were being met,” said Paul Lawrence, Aermec UK’s managing director. Once production units were completed, further testing was carried out to ensure peace of mind for the customer.
level within the stadium, and they had to be extremely quiet as many of the spectators in the higher tiers sit very close to the plant rooms which are located over the seats.
The uniqueness of the project, the location of the venue – surrounded by housing – required considerable planning and innovative designs. For Centre Court, the chillers are located away from the stadium, however this project was unique in the fact
challenging. We engineered a solution that addressed a unique set of criteria; noise, comfort of spectators, safety of the players and the moisture levels of the grass to prevent players from slipping.” “Everything had to work together, you could not just take a standard unit and place it on the site. Everything had to be made bespoke for the project to ensure that it would fit the specifications.” A prototype chiller was designed and built at
A similar process was adopted for the 12 very large bespoke AHUs. Each unit was designed with an air volume of 12 metres cubed/s. As spectators would be sitting underneath the plant rooms, Aermec’s solution had to ensure that there would be no breakout noise from the bottom of the units, detracting from the matches and causing a nuisance for spectators. The AHUs were fully performance tested at design conditions, which was only possible again due to
!! June 2020
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